Does Seasonality Affect the Nest Productivity, Body Size, and Food Niche of Tetrapedia curvitarsis Friese (Apidae, Tetrapediini)?

Tetrapedia curvitarsis Friese is a widely distributed species, frequently attracted by trap-nests. Previous studies have revealed a higher frequency of nesting in the wet season and dimorphism between the sexes, with females exhibiting larger body size than males. We evaluated the effects of seasonality on the production of nests, food niche, and body size of T. curvitarsis. The study was conducted from April 2009 to March 2010 and from April 2012 to March 2013 at the Água Limpa Experimental Station, located in the Triângulo Mineiro, Minas Gerais State. The number of cells was positively correlated with length and diameter of trap-nests. However, the number of nests and the number of cells produced did not differed between the seasons. The females demonstrated a larger head width than males and both presented greater body size in the wet season. However, there was no interaction between sex and season. A higher food niche breadth was observed in the wet season and low similarity in the use of pollen sources between seasons (PS=39.05%). Thus, it is concluded that the season has no effect on the production of nests or cells, but rather on the body size of males and females and food niche breadth. The production of smaller individuals in the dry season could be related not only to the quantity but also the quality of food offered to immature bees

IMPORTÂNCIA DE CENTRIDINI (APIDAE) NA POLINIZAÇÃO DE PLANTAS DE INTERESSE AGRÍCOLA: O MARACUJÁ-DOCE (PASSIFLORA ALATA CURTIS) COMO ESTUDO DE CASO NA REGIÃO SUDESTE DO BRASIL

As abelhas Centridini são conhecidas pelas interações com flores produtoras de óleos, principalmente da família Malpighiaceae, e também pela ação como polinizadores de flores de pólen e néctar. No entanto, as informações sobre a importância das Centridini na polinização de plantas agrícolas no Brasil são ainda escassas e fragmentadas. Este trabalho visa contribuir para diminuir esta lacuna, apresentando dados obtidos em culturas de maracujazeiro-doce nos estados de MG e RJ e discutindo possibilidades de manutenção destas abelhas nativas nas áreas agrícolas. As flores do maracujazeiro-doce são hermafroditas, tipicamente melitófilas, autoincompatíveis, e necessitam de polinizadores de grande porte, capazes de promover a transferência nototríbica de pólen. Das 19 espécies de abelhas consideradas polinizadoras de P. alata neste trabalho, 13 pertencem à tribo Centridini. Esta riqueza de espécies foi particularmente alta em Uberlândia, próximo a áreas de cerrado. As visitas por estas abelhas corresponderam a 44-49% do total observado, sendo Epicharis flava o polinizador mais freqüente nos dois locais de estudo. Espécies de Eulaema, Bombus (Apini) e Xylocopa (Xylocopini) também foram consideradas polinizadores potenciais. A antese teve início a partir das 5h e um maior número de visitas do polinizador mais freqüente ocorreu entre 7h e 11h. A presença de abelhas Centridini em áreas de cultivo é facilitada pelos seus hábitos de nidificação, frequentemente no solo em áreas expostas. Entretanto, a necessidade de outros recursos específicos, como óleos florais, implica na dependência de plantas que podem estar presentes somente nos fragmentos de vegetação nativa ou em vegetação secundária próxima às áreas de cultivo. A manutenção das populações destes polinizadores, portanto, está relacionada ao correto manejo da paisagem. Atualmente tentativas de criação de abelhas polinizadoras estão restritas a espécies que nidificam em cavidades preexistentes, através da utilização de ninhos-iscas. Para espécies que nidificam no chão, a preservação do solo em áreas nativas e recuperação de áreas degradadas também podem ser essenciais para a manutenção ou instalação de áreas de agregação de ninhos

Evolution of pregnancy in adolescent mothers at the pre-natal clinic of the Health Centre Geraldo de Paula Souza, S. Paulo (Brazil)

A hundred and thirty six cases of pregnancy in women below the age of twenty, patients of a pre-natal clinic, were studied. There was found to be a significantly higher rate of premature births and of low-birth-weight, in comparison with a group of normal pregnant women, treated at the same clinic. It was also found that the socio-economic status of the pregnant teen-agers was considerably lower. The rate of cesarian sections was also considerably lower, but the rate of forceps was higher. The average weight of the newborn children was considerably lower in the population sample studied and despite there being a great majority of primipara among the adolescents, the factor parity had no influence on the weight of the newborn.Foram estudados 136 casos de gestações em mulheres abaixo de 20 anos de idade, matriculadas em um serviço de pré-natal. Foi constatada incidência significativamente mais elevada de prematuridade e de baixo peso ao nascer, quando os resultados foram comparados aos de um grupo de gestantes matriculadas no mesmo serviço, Verificou-se ainda que o "status" sócio-econômico das gestantes adolescentes foi significativamente mais baixo. A incidência de cesáreas foi, também, significativamente menor, porém houve uma incidência maior de fórceps. O peso médio do recém-nascido foi significativamente menor na população estudada e, apesar de haver uma grande maioria de primigestas entre as adolescentes, a paridade não teve influência no peso do recém-nascido

Rhinitis associated with asthma is distinct from rhinitis alone: TARIA‐MeDALL hypothesis

Asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis (AD) are interrelated clinical phenotypes that partly overlap in the human interactome. The concept of “one-airway-one-disease,” coined over 20 years ago, is a simplistic approach of the links between upper- and lower-airway allergic diseases. With new data, it is time to reassess the concept. This article reviews (i) the clinical observations that led to Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), (ii) new insights into polysensitization and multimorbidity, (iii) advances in mHealth for novel phenotype definitions, (iv) confirmation in canonical epidemiologic studies, (v) genomic findings, (vi) treatment approaches, and (vii) novel concepts on the onset of rhinitis and multimorbidity. One recent concept, bringing together upper- and lower-airway allergic diseases with skin, gut, and neuropsychiatric multimorbidities, is the “Epithelial Barrier Hypothesis.” This review determined that the “one-airway-one-disease” concept does not always hold true and that several phenotypes of disease can be defined. These phenotypes include an extreme “allergic” (asthma) phenotype combining asthma, rhinitis, and conjunctivitis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Infected pancreatic necrosis: outcomes and clinical predictors of mortality. A post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study

: The identification of high-risk patients in the early stages of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is critical, because it could help the clinicians to adopt more effective management strategies. We conducted a post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study to assess the association between clinical risk factors and mortality among adult patients with IPN. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic factors of mortality. We identified 247 consecutive patients with IPN hospitalised between January 2019 and December 2020. History of uncontrolled arterial hypertension (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.135-15.882; aOR 4.245), qSOFA (p = 0.005; 95% CI 1.359-5.879; aOR 2.828), renal failure (p = 0.022; 95% CI 1.138-5.442; aOR 2.489), and haemodynamic failure (p = 0.018; 95% CI 1.184-5.978; aOR 2.661), were identified as independent predictors of mortality in IPN patients. Cholangitis (p = 0.003; 95% CI 1.598-9.930; aOR 3.983), abdominal compartment syndrome (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.090-6.967; aOR 2.735), and gastrointestinal/intra-abdominal bleeding (p = 0.009; 95% CI 1.286-5.712; aOR 2.710) were independently associated with the risk of mortality. Upfront open surgical necrosectomy was strongly associated with the risk of mortality (p < 0.001; 95% CI 1.912-7.442; aOR 3.772), whereas endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrosis (p = 0.018; 95% CI 0.138-0.834; aOR 0.339) and enteral nutrition (p = 0.003; 95% CI 0.143-0.716; aOR 0.320) were found as protective factors. Organ failure, acute cholangitis, and upfront open surgical necrosectomy were the most significant predictors of mortality. Our study confirmed that, even in a subgroup of particularly ill patients such as those with IPN, upfront open surgery should be avoided as much as possible. Study protocol registered in ClinicalTrials.Gov (I.D. Number NCT04747990)

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost